Marcel in Recovery Mode

Marcel assumes his usual position.

Marcel had a followup visit at the vet yesterday. He's doing well and his stitches should come out next week. In the mean time, he taken to being a house cat quite well, although he may be a bit bored.

For Marcel's entertainment, Roland came home with a cat toy the other night. After a healthy competition to play with it, Snorky promptly confiscated the thing and buried it in the sofa cushions (where all his bones reside).

People in the neighborhood who know Marcel belongs to us have asked about him, since he hasn't made his usual schmoozing rounds lately. We haven't seen any missing cat signs go up though.

Marcel, Our $600 Free Cat

Marcel with stitches and a drain tube in his chin.

Our latest mog, Marcel is becoming another Floyd. Since I brought him home last summer, Marcel has become the neighborhood cat, visiting everyone in a daily routine, even venturing through neighboring cat doors and open windows while working the neighborhood kids for cat treats. He's fearless. Everyone within a 2 block radius knows Marcel. People have offered a trade in exchange for their cat. He just turned 1 year last April. Marcel has been all about adventure from an early age. He's the neighborhood snoop and project supervisor.

When he was 6 months old, the week he was due to go into the vet for shots and to get neutered he went missing. After several days, I put an ad on Craig's List and Roland checked the missing cat list at the local shelter. Low and behold someone 6 blocks away had taken him in to see if he was chipped (not yet) and left their name and number on the register. They also took Marcel back to their home. Apparently, he had wandered off (probably followed someone) and landed in this woman's kitchen with their other tuxedo cat. The day I called, the women had taken him into the vet to get fixed, chipped and shots. She obviously was ready to keep him. Marcel has a way of endearing himself to anyone.

"Oh, well we were going to have that done," I declared merely, just happy to have him found. "So I'd be happy to reimburse you for it. What's the total going to be?" (Thinking around $200)

"$394," she replied.

Swallow. Hard. "Oh, I see."

"We took him to a vet who's the mother of my daughter's best friend," She continued. "I hope you don't mind."

I called Cat's Expensive and paid the bill. I suppose my choices were to pitch a fit and not reimburse her, probably having to give up the cat or collect him with bad energy about the whole thing, or offer half declaring that she jumped the gun and that my vet would have only charged that much, but I decided to just pay it and move on. The woman is keeping our phone number just in case. Several weeks later, I took Marcel to the same vet for a follow up visit for booster shots and another $40 bucks, just to keep the chashectomy services consistent.

He developed a habit of sleeping on top of cars. Fast forward, several evenings ago, Roland got into his van to run to the store. He didn't see Marcel on the roof among all the lumber stacked up. So, off they go up the street with a neighbor running behind trying to flag Roland down to no avail. Roland didn't find out about it until he got back. At some point, Marcel must have jumped because he came running back and hid in his favorite bushes. A neighbor girl saw him and told me that he had a bloody chin. The neighbor across the street also helped look for him and Roland was able to finally coax him out of some shrubberies. Indeed, he had a lovely cut in his chin. The interior of his mouth had some blood in it too. No broken teeth though. He must have taken a leap when the van was in motion and the momentum cause a face plant.

So, the next morning off he goes to our vet, Dr. Zile at Greenwood Animal Hospital. An overnight stay, x-rays and 5 stitches later, he's now a house cat for the time being. He lays around on his back and takes his medicine well. No broken bones. Plus, this episode only costs us around $200 dollars with deferred payment. Dr. Zile knows that we're good customers.

"Just pay us when you get paid," exclaimed Dr. Zile. "I know you always pay us."

I love that vet!

Lasagna Mulching the 'Lawn'

An old tax assessor's image of Mog Cottage.

 

I've never understood the obsession with the perfect lawn. I hate lawn. Yes, it has its places as landscape wall-to-wall carpet (in parks) or area rugs between ornamental borders, but I personally don't care for it on a number of levels. First, lawn is high maintenance. You have to mow and edge and feed the stuff copious amounts of fertilizer and water if you want it to look like anything year 'round. This fact brings up my second complaint: copious amounts of fertilizer and water required for it to look like anything adds to run-off that pollutes streams and ultimately, major water ways like Puget Sound. Ever look at ponds around a golf coarse? On hot summer days they become bubbling caldrons of excess fertilizer that promotes algae blooms.Yuck.

My third complaint is that most folk don't realize that lawn is comprised of plants. In our region, usually fescues and oat grasses. Yes, the grass you mow down to within inches of its life is comprised of a complex plant root system that prefers specific conditions like full sun. Even the so called shade tolerant grasses. Most lawns are forced to thrive on 4 inches of builder's top soil (brought in after they've scraped off all the native top soil to sell off) when the grass would prefer at least a foot of organically rich soil. So most lawns in developments look like crap without the constant chemical applications and huge amounts of water that run off into our waterways. What's worse, in this PNW climate of conifers and glacial till, the soil is full of clay, very acidic and lawns are often forced to grow in shade. This misallocation of grass seed is a grand recipe for moss that thrives on moist, shady acidic conditions. Grass prefers sweeter soil. So what do homeowners do? They resort to copious amounts of lime and Moss-out. Ultimately, a losing proposition except for the chemical companies that make billions on the whole scheme.

Talk about the poster child for male insecurities. I can't think of another marketing scheme that feeds on male insecurity (other than the physical stuff, but that's not for this blog) as much as promoting the perfect grass. It's a direct hit on male burb status. For the most part, it seems like a male obsession. Perhaps it's the women who send them out to conquer the grass in order to get them outside and out of their way on the weekends. I had an uncle who told me that mowing the grass was the only exercise he got. Sadly, he passed away at age 58 (or was it 59).

There's a cat in there somewhere.

And grass can look like hell, if left unkempt. Being a nonconformist entity, Roland is one of the few men I know who doesn't care if the grass grows tall and seeds everywhere. He considers it a cover crop - to cover the cats.

I say, take the stupid lawn out! We don't live in manor houses in England (where this whole thing started eons ago) and the stuff's a pain in the patootie. There are far better uses for that spot of ground, like growing food. If you want a green patch, there are a number of ground-covers that look lovely as replacements and add interesting texture. You can put a stone or gravel path where you need to tromp around.

An organic way to remove lawn is to layer cardboard or copious amounts of newspaper and woody mulch. Commonly referred to as sheet mulching, I prefer the term lasagna mulching since my yard is primarily planted with edibles. First, cut the grass as short as possible. Apply several layers of cardboard down (you can get refrigerator crates from appliance stores) and then at least 3-4 inches of woody mulch. I use arborist chips. Wet down or do it when it is going to rain. And don't pick a windy day. Now this process takes some time - around a six months to a year to thoroughly settle in. I finally finished the front area and will not be planting or doing anything except maintaining the escapee's around the edges (but that didn't stop me from buying plants, of course). I'll probably apply salt or vinegar to problem areas. The cardboard and chips will compost in, attract worms and feed the soil. The decomposing grass goes along for the ride.

Epimedium 'Fire Dragon'

I purchased a gallon container of the ground cover Epimedium 'Fire Dragon' for under the Camellia. It takes dry shade, will colonize the area and blooms lovely little bell-shaped yellow and pink flowers. I'll just have to keep it alive until it can be planted. I didn't do a good job taking care that the grass stay shorn last year, so now I have to contend with digging out what seeded into the planting beds (and containers. Argh!). It will be an on-going chore as grass has a habit of coming back if all of the roots aren't completely removed.

Grass is taking over the beds!

Grass belongs in, well, grasslands.

The American Cranberry Bush

Vaccinium m. 'Lo Hugger' with a single hanger-on

Several years ago, I planted our parking strip with blueberry bushes on a small, bermed area that runs up part of the length. Since then, I've been trying to figure out what would make a good edible plant along the slope (besides the ever opportunistic violas that have volunteered their services there). Having planted several berry producing groundcovers such as Rubus pentalobus, nothing has really taken to that area. I then came across an American cranberry bush cultivar called 'Lo Hugger' at work and finally had that woohoo moment.

Not having an over abundance of space, this little gem only get 4-6" tall and is somewhat spreading. Pink flowers give way to large red berries (you can see one still hanging on in the picture) that last into winter. It's hardy down to zone 4. The grower, Fisher Farms states on their web sit that this plant is deciduous while at the same time stating that the leaves turns red in the winter. We shall see.

Like their taller cousins the blueberry bush, Vaccinium macrocarpon generally likes full sun and moist soils, although they can take part shade and seasonal flooded conditions. In fact, harvesting is often done by flooding the cranberry fields with 6-8 inches of water above the bushes and corralling up the floating berries into a corner. They are then pumped up from the beds into trucks that take them to the sorting stations. As flooding the parking strip is not an option, I will be picking them by hand. Perhaps this variety would be a good candidate for the bottom of a rain garden. A good layer of arborist chips around the shrubs should help keep the moisture in.

I nestled 3 plants among the blueberry bushes and hope to harvest enough cranberries for cranberry sauce during the holidays. That is if the opportunistic crows or Stubby doesn't get to them first.

The Best Kale Chips

I love Kale. It's easy to grow, often overwinters and is very versatile to use. I have three types growing in my garden and all have lasted me through the winter. I use kale in soups, stews, omelets, and salads. However, one of my favorite ways to eat kale is in the form of kale chips.

In the past, I've been coating them in olive oil, salt and herbs and baking them in a 375 degree oven on a parchment lined sheet pan. That's what other kale eaters have told me to do. Unfortunately, these chips have always turned out black with various parts undercooked, usually the thicker stems. I've modified the oven temperature somewhat, but could not get a consistent green crisp.

A few weeks ago, I was watching, Jacques Pepin's show, More Fast Food My Way and he happened demonstrated how to properly make kale chips. So, according to Chef Pepin, only preheat your oven to 250 degrees. To prepare the kale, wash it in a bowl of cold water and then take the stems off. I just grab the bottom of the stem and run my other hand up it to strip off the leafy part. I also use my handy-dandy salad spinner to thoroughly dry it. If you have large leaves, tear them down to smaller sizes. Then coat the kale with a little olive oil and sea salt in a bowl. You don't need much seasoning because the kale shrinks quite a bit which concentrates the flavors. You can also season it with dried tomato skin crumbs, herbs and pepper. Evenly spread it out on a sheet pan lined with a wire wrack so air can circulate under and around the greens. Bake for 20-25 minutes.

Voila! Perfectly crisp, green kale chips.

Stubby the Squirrel

Not long ago, while at work, I came across an interesting apparatus in the critter feed section: a bungee cord for squirrels. Now I know what you're thinking. Perhaps it's a trap, you think, that catches the little pests by the hind ankle and then drops them from great heights to have them boing up and down for an amusing show. I did buy it for the dog's amusement, but it's not a trap. Rather, it's a squirrel feeding device. An ear of corn is screwed on to the end of a chain with a heavy-duty elastic cord. The idea is for the squirrel to climb onto it and proceed to bounce up and down while enjoying its feast.

Ideally, the bungee should be attached to a tree branch where the little darlings can climb down it and start the thing in motion. Since we don't own a big tree, it got attached to a hook off the roof of the front porch. We had visions of squirrels clambering to get at the dried corn, but were sorely disappointed. There it sat for days, ignored while squirrels scurried about around it. Then one day, the dog went off and lo and behold one was interested. The only problem was that the corn couldn't be reached from below. Without access from the top, it became a dangling tease.

So Roland set up a step. Now it hops up on its tippy toes and pulls the corn husk down, chewing off the kernels from the bottom up. The only bouncing is when the squirrel lets go and the thing springs back. As far as we can tell, there's just the one squirrel visiting the bungee. It happens to be the same squirrel that kept coming into the house last fall (see http://www.mogcottageurbanfarm.com/2012/09/squirrel-obsessed.html ). Snorky must have been able to catch it in the house at the time because I found a piece of squirrel tail in the living room. Our bungee cord squirrel is missing the end of its tale. We named it Stubby. Snorky bonds with it through the living room window on a daily basis.

Garden Slacker

OK, I'll admit it; I've been a garden slacker of late. I've also been a slacker posting to this blog. Call it temporary burnout, laziness or just plain ambivalence, I've been rather neglectful. In fact, the most I've done since last fall is harvest and crisp up the copious amounts of kale that has overwintered, prune out the dysfunction on the blueberry shrubs and plant some seeds in starter cups. Whoopee. I've thought a lot about the blog. I've read a lot of other garden blog posts.

My lovely daughter and her new hubby

Not that I didn't have a lot going on. To start, I graduated with my degree in Horticulture. Finally. I've been working part-time at a local plant nursery. OK. And my daughter just got hitched. Even though I didn't do much in the planning of the wedding, thinking about it took copious amounts of mental energy and I did knit her a shawl which took copious amounts of my evenings. All would have been something to write about, announce, etc. but it just didn't happen. Nope, couldn't make myself do it.


Of course I had grand plans for this blog. I was a legend in my own mind. Unfortunately, the grand plans never made it to posts. So, to catch up here's my New Years resolutions to start:

1. Stop procrastinating. New years resolutions in March - really?
2. Post at least once a week. At least make an effort
3. Organize your seed packs. I mean how many more packs of unopened kohlrabi do I need.
4. Finish spreading the arborist chips on the lawn.
5. Finish the green roof on the garden shed.... ROLAND!

So, in the spirit of new beginnings, here it goes.